Must Landlord or Tenant Pay for Required Earthquake Retrofit?

What Happened: The town of Santa Monica passed an ordinance requiring a commercial building leased to a delicatessen/catering firm to be retrofitted for earthquakes. The landlord claimed that the tenant, who had leased the building since 1973, was the real owner and thus financially responsible for complying with the ordinance; the tenant claimed just the opposite. The trial court ruled that the landlord had to pay for the seismic retrofit.

Ruling: The California state court agreed and tossed the landlord’s appeal.